Saturday, October 16, 2010

Pollak-Schakowsky Forum, Sunday, Oct. 17 (Updated)

UPDATE, Oct. 18: Coverage of the event...Israel Becomes Issue in the Illinois Elections‎ Arutz Sheva
The Campaign Spot‎ National Review Online
IL 9: Republican Pollak outraises Schakowsky 2-1 Marathon Pundit
On Sunday, Oct. 17, Joel Pollak will appear on stage with anti-Israel Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky in the To Protect Our Heritage PAC 9th Congressional District candidate forum.
A panel will question the two candidates on a variety of issues concerning Israel, and the U.S.-Israel relationship. The forum will be held at Congregation K.I.N.S., 2800 West North Shore Avenue, Chicago (map). Doors open at 6:00 p.m. to pre-registered guests and 6:45 p.m. to others. This should be a red-hot forum.IMPORTANT: If you did not register by Saturday night, you will not get a seat. There is no on-site registration. If you are attending, remember: Please be civil, respectful, and courteous, even if others in the audience are not.
The Jerusalem Post calls Joel Pollak "unabashedly pro-Israel" in an amazing article by Caroline Glick, on October 15, about the US-Israel alliance and the threats posed to it by the anti-Israel "J Street PAC":
"In Chicago, far-left six-term Democratic congresswoman and J Street sweetheart Jan Schakowsky’s approval ratings have fallen below 50%. Her unabashedly pro-Israel Republican opponent Joel Pollak is making Schakowsky’s record on Israel a pillar of his campaign. For his efforts Pollak was the recipient of Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz’s first ever endorsement of a Republican."Full article at Jerusalem Post...
To put that into context, J-Post writer Glick noted this:
A survey of American Jewish opinion published this week by the American Jewish Committee shows that J Street’s agenda is rejected by American Jewry. Whereas 78% of American Jews voted for Obama in 2008, today a bare majority of 51% approve of his performance in office. As political analyst Larry Sabato noted, “A 50% positive rating for a Democratic president among Jews is, frankly, terrible.”The unprecedented drop in American Jewish support for Obama is directly related to his hostility towards Israel. Today a mere 49% of American Jews support his handling of US-Israel relations, while 45% disapprove. Tellingly, 62% of American Jews approve of Netanyahu’s handling of US-Israel relations and only 27% disapprove.Democrats supported by J Street – that is Democrats who have supported Obama’s policies towards Israel – are running scared today. The Emergency Committee for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition are running ads against members of Congress supported by J Street to great effect. In Pennsylvania, Democratic Senate candidate and J Street ally congressman Joe Sestak is polling far behind Republican nominee Pat Toomey.J Street has recently come under fire for the huge support it's gotten from George Soros and, perhaps most troubling, a huge amount from a foreign donor in Hong Kong. Schakowsky has now come under fire for having taken large contributions from J Street -- and in cowardly fashion she is trying to publicly distance herself from the PAC by claiming ignorance.
Mitz Vote reports that Schakowsky now says she is “extremely disappointed that J Street wasn’t up front about their funding.” J Street, said Schakowsky, needs “to be very clear and open about who their donors are.”
The chutzpah of Schakowsky's statement is stunning. It is difficult to believe that she had no clue about the Soros and Hong Kong money connections, nor about J Street PAC's generally anti-Israel stance. She made her "extremely disappointed" statement only after Joel Pollak recently and loudly demanded that she “give back the J Street cash.” More about this affair at Mitz Vote...
Schakowsky and her extremely radical agendaand policies are not only bad for American taxpayers, they are dangerous for our important alliance with Israel.
Pollak wrote this recently on Facebook:It is radical groups like J Street--sponsored by George Soros and foreign donors--that have made Israel into a political football. Today, while 85% of Republicans support Israel, only 48% of Democrats do. That is the direct result of pressure groups like J Street, together with the Obama administration’s ill treatment of Israel, and the weakness of Democratic leaders in confronting the anti-Israel radicals in their midst. Jan Schakowsky has decided where she stands: with J Street and against Israel’s strongest defenders--not just Rubin and Pipes, but Elie Wiesel, Alan Dershowitz, Joe Lieberman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, each of whom has been attacked by J Street in recent months. More on Facebook...RELATED:Soros a secret J Street donor since ’08 Jerusalem Post
J Street Gets Taken To The Woodshed Mitz Vote
J Street's Dead End Commentary Magazine
Dozens of Questionably "Pro-Israel" Contributors J Street PAC Contributors (blog)
Schakowsky's Shame on Supporting Israel Backyard Conservative
Pollak to Schakowsky: "Give back the J Street cash!" Illinois Review
Congregation KINS of West Rogers Park website
To Protect Our Heritage website